Love Canon

From the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Charlottesville’s LOVE CANON resides in full bloom. Led by guitarist Jesse Harper and banjo wiz Adam Larrabee, the virtuoso group of string musicians become one on stage—-the super 80’s bluegrass hits machine, LOVE CANON; with, Darrell Muller on bass, Andy Thacker on mandolin & Jay Starling on resonator guitar.

LOVE CANON (intentionally spelled with one “N”) Think Rocky IV, Kenny Loggins, Cyndi Lauper, Toto, ZZ Top, Aha and Dire Straits played with banjo, bass, mandolin, dobro, fiddle and high lonesome vocals. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you dance, it’ll “blind you with science!” “Love Canon doesn’t cover the music of the ’80s as much as kidnap it and take it on a bluegrass-tinged joyride.

It’s a general rule of American culture that it takes 20-40 years for a decade to shed its stale stench and get its groove back. There’s no shortage of clever musical re-enactors giving the first generation of MTV an ironic makeover: a fool’s errand, given that the music already was soaked in postmodern irony. By contrast, Love Canon refreshes and extends the originals with affectionate humor and effortless virtuosity.

The players — including Old School Freight Train’s Jesse Harper and Darrell Muller, Virginia Commonwealth University guitar and banjo master Adam Larrabee, and Mandolin Virtuoso Andy Thacker — add layers of depth to the still-appealing pop hooks. They romp on throwaway classics such as ZZ Top’s “Legs” and “She Blinded Me With Science.” On their excellent version of “The Boys of Summer,” the folk instrumentation adds a traditional context to the time-capsule lyrics. After blazing through other up-tempo material, they shift to a slow burn on the closing “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” It’s an unlikely choice for an all-male band, but they strip the song down to its bittersweet, feminist heart.” — Peter McElhinney – Style Weekly